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Tattoo designs - G >> Goats

Goat Tattoo Design Meanings - Virile, lustful and cunning, the goat has stirred the human imagination for millennia. Strong sexual connotations surround the goat - horns and erect members - turning it into a symbol of male potency, but also female fecundity and nurturing. As an animal totem, the goat's sharp horns symbolize perception. It represents practicality and stability, encouraging balanced perspective. Patience, honest ambition and determination are also symbols of the goat.

The goat's rampant sexual nature became associated with the Greek god, Pan, and his friends the satyrs, part human, part beast, and unabashedly and visibly ready for sex. Ancient bronze statues depict these mythological creatures in all their male splendour. Other Greek perspectives show the she-goat as a generous and nurturing mother - the very one that suckled the infant Zeus. The goat was called Amalthea, and her horn became known as the famous 'cornucopia' of abundance. Capricorn is the constellation of the goat, the one beloved by the infant Zeus.

The goat has also come to represent a destructive nature. It was one of the three creatures - lion, serpent, goat - that together constituted the fire-breathing entity, Chimera, in ancient Greek mythology.

In Nordic culture, two powerful goats - thunder and lightning - pulled the chariot of the Nordic deity, Thor. The goat is most impressive in winter - mating season - and its image appears in Scandinavian yuletide art and folk rituals. In Hindu mythology, Mother Nature is depicted as a goat. Also, Kali, the goddess of destruction, is sometimes portrayed as a black goat. Today, the ritual sacrifice of the goat to Kali is still practiced in parts of India.

Not all cultures appreciated the goat's lusty virility, the Hebrews for instance, who thought the creature lewd. Christianity also came to view the goat's antics in a negative light, turning it into a symbol of lust and impurity. In time, the animal became associated with Satan, perhaps because of its tendency to devour and thereby destroy almost anything, confirming its reputation as a device of the Devil. In fact, an upside down pentagram was thought to be the mark of Satan or the devil because its shape is so reminiscent of a goat's head, the five points representing ears, horns and muzzle.

More than 5,000 years ago, images of the mountain goat appeared on pottery in Iran. It is said that the horn of the goat was the crescent moon. It was an animal related to the Sun and was a symbol of strength and safety, representing the beneficial element of nature. It was also a symbol of rainfall.

Get inspired by some great images and photos in our Goat Inspiration Gallery

See also: Animal Tattoos Index, Capricorn, Chinese Zodiac, Pentagram

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Tattoo designs - G >> Goats

Tattoo Symbol Index - A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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